Photo Credit: Spotify
Spotify’s popular RapCaviar playlist is launching a video podcast on August 4, hosted by Brandon “Jinx” Jenkins.
Perhaps the most influential curated rap playlist in the world, Spotify’s RapCaviar is creating a video podcast to further its presence. Launching August 4, the RapCaviar podcast will feature host Brandon “Jinx” Jenkins and guests that include artists, producers, writers, label executives, and critics. In addition, the RapCaviar docuseries, “RapCaviar Presents,” premieres on Hulu in November.
The podcast promises to settle “long-standing debates” in the rap universe, with initial guests such as the co-founder and head of A&R at record label LVRN Justice Baiden, Trent Clark of TMZ Hip Hop, and writer and critic Rembert Browne. Other early guests include content executive at Netflix Jasmyn Lawson and radio personality Bootleg Kev.
“The RapCaviar universe is expanding,” tweets Carl Chery, the curator of the RapCaviar playlist and Spotify’s creative director/head of Urban music.
“I always had the opinion that a playlist is not enough,” Chery tells Variety in an interview explaining the process behind getting the podcast off the ground. “You look at other outlets that were important throughout hip-hop history, whether it’s XXL or the blog era, there’s always content.”
Carl Chery explains that it’s not enough to have a playlist to engage with the ever-changing hip-hop culture. He stresses how important the RapCaviar brand is to the teams that bring it to life. “It’s important to us to create these different channels where we can add context and speak to what’s important to us and the culture,” Chery says of the upcoming RapCaviar podcast.
“We looked at what’s out there, and in terms of podcasting in the hip hop space, there are some debates,” Chery continues. “We saw it with ‘Everyday Struggle’ and what Joe Budden is doing where (discussions) naturally turned into debates. We felt Spotify could put a sting on what hip-hop debates are like — have more specific topics, really make it more about the music and culture instead of focusing on the juicy sensational stuff, which has been front-and-center the last few years.”
There are currently no plans for songs from the RapCaviar playlist to be played or used in the podcast, though Chery says he’s “sure there will be instances where we talk about a specific song, and we’ll play that song.”
“We did get a custom theme track from the producer JetsonMade, and are super excited about that,” Chery explains. “We felt it was important to include someone that the community’s familiar with.”
While the RapCaviar podcast will center around conversations, the Hulu docuseries focuses on storytelling. Each episode will feature a different figure, with a story that “speaks to what’s happening in hip-hop at large.” Tyler the Creator will be the focus of the debut episode.